Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
Parallel translations
- WEB For by this, the elders obtained testimony.
- KJV For by it the elders obtained a good report.
- BSB This is why the ancients were commended.
- NKJV For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
- NASB For by it the people of old gained approval.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The believers of old ("the elders") were commended by God because of their faith. Faith, not mere works or status, is what won God's approval.
Overview
This verse introduces the great roll-call of faith that fills chapter 11. The "elders" are the saints of the Old Testament era, who received divine "testimony"—God's own attestation that they pleased him. The author's point is that the life of faith he urges on his readers is no novelty but the very thing that distinguished God's people in every age, and it points forward to Christ, the one in whom all faith finds its object.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Heb 11:39These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise,
- Heb 11:4By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 11:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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